"One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small," sang Jefferson Airplane in 1967. But today it doesn’t matter if the medicine is doled out as pills by your doctor or in pouches at a natural health store - if new legislation passes, both will be subject to the same strict standards.

Health Canada sleuths are turning their sights on traders in alternative medicines — dealers in everything from ginsing and garlic to traditional powders and potions made from animal and plant products — with a sweeping piece of legislation that proponents say will protect consumer health but critics charge is a Big Brother-styled clamp down on traditional medicines.

Dubbed C-51, the bill amends Canada’s Food and Drug Act, combining natural health products with drugs and other medical consumables under one umbrella category called, ‘therapeutic products.’

Instead of creating a second tier specifically for natural health products, Health Minister Tony Clement plans to treat natural health products (NHPs) — including herbal remedies and supplements popular with Metro Vancouver’s Asian communities — as pharmaceutical drugs. The sweeping legislation, currently in second reading in Ottawa, also outlines strict advertising regulations and stringent clinical standards for cosmetics, vitamins, cells, prescription drugs, medical devices and health supplements.

Critics of the bill charge that it is full of dangerously vague definitions, vastly increases federal powers of inspection and enforcement, and unjustly tramples on the constitutional rights of traders and consumers of ancient alternative health remedies.

"They’re saying the bill is for our protection but not one person has even died from a natural health product," says Dione Russell, a Vancouver health activist who is spearheading opposition to the bill. "Under the amendment, the (Health) Ministry is able to circumvent the democratic process and arbitrarily deem what is legal."

But proponents say that the Food and Drug Act is in desperate need of updating and the ammendment bill may prevent cases like those reported in the South Asian Post last month, where two Indo-Candians were diagnosed with heavy-metal poisoning after ingesting tainted herbal remedies.

NHPs are already subject to licensing regulations. But with stricter guidelines, 60 per cent of the natural health products on the market in Canada today will fail the licensing process and will become illegal, according to Shawn Buckley, a lawyer and president of the Natural Health Products Protection Association (NHPPA), a non-profit that advocates access to NHPs and dietary supplements.

Lorna Hancock, the executive director of NHPPA, says Bill C-51 will have far reaching consequences for the Canadian public, especially the Chinese community, which values Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

"The Bill has implications for Traditional Chinese Medicine and I think it’s something that the Chinese community should be aware of," she said. "In the past, the Chinese community has rallied to protect TCM. They need to start asking questions again."

Dr. Cam Tran, a B.C. Registered Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and a pharmacist at Sunny Day Herbal Store in Vancouver’s Chinatown, believes the new bill will give Chinese medicine a bad name.

"Chinese medicine has a lot of history with the use of herbal remedies," he told the Asian Pacific Post.

Cam, who has been in business for 21 years, said the Health Act ammendment would mean less full time jobs for TCM practitioners.

"I have just three words to say," he said. "A waste of time, energy and money."

Jude Thaddeus Lee, a registered TCM herbalist with Continental Herbal in Chinatown, said Ottawa should be seeking the advice of professionals in the field before pushing forward with its proposed bill.

"Those people setting up the bill don’t know much about herbal medicine," he said. "They just have the power to do it."

Currently, Health Canada studies indicate that over 50 per cent of Canadians use some form of natural health products. As the number of NHP consumers grows, so too do the types of products on the market.

In an effort to weed out manufactures who make bogus claims about ‘magical’ natural ingredients, C-51 was put before parliament early last month. But critics challenge the way the Ministry has been selling C-51. It’s not about safety, they say, it’s about over-regulation.

Under the new law, federal regulators and inspectors could seize without reason, warrant, court order or limit, any susbstance or device not approved as a therapeutic product.

In court, a large corporation or even a small family business, could be subjected to fines of up to $5 million and/or two years imprisonment for violating the ammended Food and Drug Act.

By creating stiff penalties and limiting what’s on the market, critics like Buckley and Russell say that Ottawa is acting as "Big Brother," making health decisions for an informed public.

One contentious point in the bill would see the word "sell" changed to include "distribute." Many in the NHP community have jumped on this change, pointing out that it could make a criminal out of a mother who gives her child echinacea.

A more realistic consequence would see naturopathic doctors and other holistic practitioners barred from distributing products like vitamins and health supplements.

"If we don’t have alternatives, we will be forced to turn to our doctors for government-sanctioned health solutions, which would be prescribed drugs," said Russell, who was originally prescribed Zoloft and Xanax to help her deal with severe depression, but has since turned to more holistic remedies.

Health Canada maintains that Bill C-51 will not limit access to natural health products or require prescriptions for their use. Rather, the goal is to regulate medical claims made for all therapeutic products.

Proponents of the bill say its high time NHPs are subject to the same rigorous standards the public expects of perscription drugs.

"These are important safe guards so people aren’t misled into thinking that something’s effective when the best evidence says that it’s not," said Lloyd Oppel, spokesperson for the B.C. Medical Association, and a clinical assistant professor at the UBC. "I don’t think a lot of products will be taken off the shelves. I can’t say for certain, but I think the bill would go some distance to cutting down the type of advertising about health benefits for those products that haven’t yet been established."

Breno Moreira, a 26-year-old restaurant promoter living in Vancouver takes ginseng everyday. Vitamins he takes "randomly, not frequently." His opinion on why the government wants to regulate herbal remedies is "for safety reasons."

 Mario Soto, a 27-year-old urban planner from Texas, takes herbal remedies every once in a while, although he does take vitamins three times a week. His opinion on the government wanting to regulate herbal remedies is "so that people do not abuse it, for safety purposes."

 Dustin Burwood, a 21-year-old self-employed Vancouver resident, takes herbal remedies "every now and again," although he does not take any vitamins. Concerning Ottawa’s regulatory plan, he says, "the government does what it does."

However I do not want to disrespect Canadian law. And sooner or later in order to protect consumers we must set up some standards or guidelines to promote our market and to educate others."